Whoever controlled Pegasus tried to spy on four members of the Spanish Government. He achieved it with three, the three whose mobiles did not have the necessary update to stop the software: the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez; the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaskaand the Minister of Defence, Daisy Robles.
He also tried it with the terminal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, but it failed. “It was the subject of an infection attempt by Pegasus on June 25, 2021. The small amount of information sent, less than 1KB, suggests an unsuccessful infection attempt due to the existence of one of the applications on the phone vaccine“, explains the judge of the National CourtJose Luis Calamaresponsible for the investigation until the file decreed on Monday.
In the resolution that archives the case, the judge does not offer details about the responsibility for the security of the four terminals. But the investigation has made it possible to clarify that the mobiles of Sánchez, Marlaska and Robles were not up to date.
One of the facets of the investigation in the Court has been who was responsible for the security of mobile phones. The government pointed to the CNI, but the conclusion of the investigators is that there is no regulation that holds it responsible for it. He National Intelligence Center It does check the phones of members of the Government, but only when requested.
The conclusion of the researchers is that this security depended on those responsible for ICT -Information and Communication Technologies- of each ministry. And that only in Agriculture they were up to date.